Instinct Trumps Sense
by Rhino7
Summary: He was no knight and she was no damsel, but he found himself rescuing her anyway.


**Instinct Trumps Sense**

**By Rhino7**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This one-shot is mine. This was another one of those that started with me sitting there wanting to write Leon and Tifa friendship goodness and just plucking at the keyboard. I truly dislike damsel-in-distress stories, especially since Tifa is such a badass who can very obviously take care of herself. Regardless, the romantic in me has to acknowledge the squee factor of it. Thus, I ended up with this. Enjoy, or at least be gentle.**

**..:--X--:..**

Sometimes a place was so quiet, it hurt the ears.

Normally Leon didn't mind silence. He preferred it, actually. Comfortable silence was better than the constant chattering and mindless talk that ran rampant through Radiant Garden. He couldn't really complain though, much as he'd like to, because this silence was driving him insane.

No Heartless.

No Nobodies.

No people.

Nothing.

Two days ago the Nobodies had mounted an attack on Radiant Garden with an intelligence that had taken the Restoration Committee by surprise. The Dusks had ransacked the Marketplace while a squad of Berserkers unleashed Hell on the Postern. Leon and Cid had had their work cut out for them while Merlin and Yuffie defended the Bailey and Cloud and Tifa cleared the town square.

Leon had never seen Nobodies work together so uniformly before. It was usually senseless violence and unorganized attacks. That had been premeditated. The Nobodies had had a purpose in attacking Radiant Garden. They were efficient and even more shocking: they had taken the Restoration Committee completely by surprise, even going so far as to disable the security system beforehand.

When the smoke had cleared, Yuffie had a bloody nose, the left side of Cloud's face was bloody, Cid was inventing new swear words to describe how he felt about the second degree burns on his arm, and Tifa was gone. Aerith had been moving around in the battle, casting Cures and using potions on the fighters, and she had been the first to notice that the martial artist had disappeared.

Anarchy had set in. Cloud wanted to go look for her himself. Yuffie wanted to launch a search and rescue team. Cid wanted to go tan the hides of the Nobodies for it. Aerith wanted them all to think rationally. Leon wanted them all to shut up so they could just find Tifa.

Now here they were, all spread out through the old castle ruins on the outskirts of Radiant Garden. The Nobodies may have been organized in executing the attack, but their retreat had been sloppy and easy to track. Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Merlin, and Cloud had each taken one floor of the old castle, armed and searching every room for Tifa.

Hence the silence.

Frowning, Leon crept forward down the dank, dark corridor. He could barely see, but he didn't dare try to light the place in case he roused any lingering Nobodies or Heartless into attacking. The only light giving him any sense of direction at all was the stray rays of sunlight that streamed through the open windows or holes blasted through the walls.

He held the gunblade with both hands at his left side, angling the blade toward the grimy stone floor. If it was up to him, he would have come in all guns blazing and knocked the whole damn castle down if it would find Tifa faster. As it was, Aerith and Merlin weren't trained in battle to handle that kind of rush situation. Neither was Yuffie, not formally anyway. Leon had a feeling Cloud was all for the guns blazing plan as well, but it just wouldn't work with the party they were employing.

Easing up against the next wall, he squinted and made out several doors lining the outer wall. He was covering the lower floors where the old dungeon cells were. He'd already cleared eight cells, just little five by five foot rooms enclosed by concrete walls. The whole dungeon area smelled like a hundred years of grime and decay and stale air. Ankle deep, murky water was swilling around on the floor.

Leon stepped slowly down the hall, taking care to displace as little water as possible. His ears strained for any noise out of the ordinary…or any noise at all for that matter. A few spatters of movement had burst in the floors above him as one of the others triggered a trap or ran into trouble. None of them had broken radio silence in the two hours they had been searching though, so it must not have been serious. The silence in radio contact also meant no one had any leads on Tifa's location either.

It just didn't make any sense. Leon had personal experience with Tifa's right hook. She could handle herself against a hundred Nobodies. How had she been overpowered AND abducted while facing down a few dozen…WITH Cloud manning her back? The Nobodies were starting to think on their own, act on their own. They were getting stronger and the Restoration Committee was getting cocky. They couldn't afford that any longer.

The first door he reached was stuck shut. Leon pushed his shoulder against it, shoving into the corroded door until it gave, swinging into the cell. He swept inside and scanned the room, gunblade gripped tightly and ready for any surprise attack.

The cell was empty and nothing attacked. Taking quick assessment of the room, Leon backed out of the cell and repeated the process for the second door he approached. Smash it open, brace for attack, scan the interior, assess the cell, find nothing, and move on.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Noth—

As he was inspecting the fifth empty cell, he heard movement at the end of the hall. Spine straightening, Leon backed out swiftly and squinted into the darkness. Nothing was visible, but he'd learned the hard way that visibility wasn't a reliable factor in assessing a threat.

Alone in the dank hallway, he fell into the familiar defensive stance, taking slow steps forward and inhaling in measured breaths. He exhaled in a fog in the chilly dungeon corridor, staring intensely at the end of the hall.

It sounded like an animal noisily moving about in the water, scratching at the concrete walls. Or a stupid Nobody trying to lure him into a trap. Shifting his grip on the gunblade, Leon put his back against the wall, feeling decades of slime and dirt congeal against his clothes. Ignoring that, he took several more cautious steps forward, keeping a wary attention on his peripherals.

_Swoop. Whish. Swoop._

Two Dusks flowed into view, moving in their unnatural way as they bubbled around the corner at the far end of the hall. Leon fell still and watched them for a moment. It was only two of them. They were alone. Small fry by the looks of them. If the Nobodies had such a hierarchy of authority.

Leon remained still as the Dusks wound their way down the hall. Once they were within reach, he swept his gunblade out in a single arc. The blade sank through the throats of the two Dusks simultaneously like a hot knife through two sticks of butter. The Nobodies soundlessly dissolved into jagged forked spirals of nothingness.

The gunblade hovered in the air for a moment while Leon strained his ears to hear any other sounds in the corridor. There were no more Dusks showing up to avenge their comrades…so those two must have been on patrol. If there were guards, that meant they were guarding something, which meant Tifa had to be close.

He resumed the checking process on the next door in the hallway. Smash it open, brace for attack, scan the interior, assess the cell, find nothing, and move on. He covered three more doors, coming up with zilch before he heard it again. A sloshing noise followed by scratching.

Backing out into the hallway again, Leon kept the gunblade aloft as he tilted his head, squinting into the darkness and moving toward the end of the corridor again. It didn't sound like Nobodies; it was too free motion, not repetitive like them. Crossing to the opposite wall, he kept narrowed eyes on the doors at the end of the hallway. It sounded as though whatever was making the noise was inside the last cell on the outer wall.

The scratching and sloshing persisted weakly as he neared the last door. He shifted just in front of the door, honing in on the sound. Whatever Nobody or Heartless or if Tifa was in there, it sounded like it was coming from the far wall opposite the door. Gripping the gunblade tightly, Leon took a step back and then threw his weight against the door.

The corroded steel caved and Leon took a few staggering steps into the ankle deep water inside the cell, regaining his balance just as—

_Boom!_

Pain lanced through his shoulder as the gun report exploded through the cell. Feeling the bullet tug at his collar, Leon saw, in the brief flash of light from the gunpowder, Tifa against the opposite wall, gun leveled, eyes impossibly wide and face pale. Instinct dragged Leon out of the cell, pressing his back against the wall beside the door.

"Ah, stop shooting! It's me!" He called out.

Silence.

Then, "Cloud—" Her voice was hoarse and shaky.

"No. Leon." He corrected, catching his breath and wincing, looking at his shoulder.

The bullet was lodged against a bone in his shoulder. Great, it hadn't gone through. Warm blood blossomed over his shirt, but it wasn't too bad. Grunting, Leon shifted the gunblade to his other hand.

"Leon." She repeated, sounding disoriented.

"Yeah." He swallowed, "I'm gonna come back in. Don't shoot."

He couldn't bank on her being completely lucid. Hell, she'd been captive of the Nobodies for two days. If he had been in her position, he wouldn't have allowed himself to sleep. So the case scenario assumption was that she'd been awake and hadn't eaten in two days. Definitely not trusting her to be lucid.

"Okay." She said.

He stepped into the doorframe again to see that she'd lowered the gun to her side. She was sitting against the wall, a shackle around her ankle and latched to the wall. She was pale as a sheet and shivering. The only blood that he could see was just under her hairline by her left temple.

Moving slowly to avoid startling her, Leon set the gunblade against the wall and crossed the cell, kneeling beside her. Tifa watched him with glazed eyes. Sure enough, there were dark circles of exhaustion under her eyes, giving her an even more gaunt appearance. Her jaw was bruised and her wrist was swollen.

"Do you know where you are?" He asked, checking her pupils for uneven dilation.

"N-no." Tifa said questioningly.

Leon held her face gently, turning her to inspect her jaw, throat, and neck for injuries. Finding only minor bruises, he ghosted his hands over the rest of her body to check for broken bones or serious wounds. Tifa sat quietly as he did so, unable to stop shaking from the chill and sitting in the cold water. She was probably in minor shock as well.

"You're still in Radiant Garden, in the old castle ruins." Leon started to explain slowly. "It's been two days since the Nobodies attacked."

"Castle." Tifa repeated. "Attack-cked."

Leon nodded, relieved to find no broken bones or obvious internal damage. There were multiple shallow abrasions on her forearms and the skin on her knuckles was busted open, but she wasn't actively bleeding anywhere. He couldn't say the same for himself.

"Sorry I sh-shot you." She stammered.

"It's okay. Four inches to the right and I would have been in trouble." Leon said quietly. Then, to keep her talking. "Can you move at all?"

Tifa shifted her arms in response and moved her legs uncertainly. "I f-feel really w-weak and I c-can't st-stand up-p." Her teeth chattered.

Leon dug into his pockets and found a paperclip. Taking it out and unfolding it, he worked the twine into the lock of the shackle around her ankle. The skin around the shackle was rubbed raw and the kind of angry red that suggested early infection. He frowned and kept wiggling the paperclip in the hole until the lock clicked and gave.

Dropping the clip, he slid the shackle open and lifted her ankle out of the rusted iron of the chain. Tifa winced and sat up straighter. Her jaw clamped tightly to keep her teeth from chattering and she started to get her hands under her.

"Sorry." Leon murmured. "Sit still. Don't try to stand up on this leg."

She would have to be carried out of here. She was too exhausted and unstable to walk out on her own steam, and with a bullet in his shoulder, Leon didn't trust himself to carry her out. So he choked on his pride and pulled his radio out, setting a hand on Tifa's shoulder to anchor her to consciousness.

"I found her." He spoke into the radio, holding the button down.

A burst of static and then Cloud. "Where?"

"Second level of the dungeons." Leon responded. "I need help getting her out of here."

"Is she all right?" Aerith's voice came over Cloud's reply of "On my way."

"A little banged up and in shock, but she's conscious." Leon informed, holding Tifa's gaze. "She's hypothermic too."

Tifa leaned into his body heat and Leon gritted his teeth as her head tilted into his bloody shoulder. He shifted, sliding his working arm behind her back, serving as a block between her trembling shoulders and the cold concrete wall.

"Keep her warm." Aerith suggested.

Thank you, Madame Obvious. Leon tried not to roll his eyes and just pulled Tifa closer, just short of lifting her into his lap. Delirious or not, he knew Tifa would be mortified if he did that. He reached across with his other arm and clasped her bicep, rubbing her skin slightly to get the blood flowing more actively.

"Why can't you carry her out yourself, Squall?" Yuffie chirped over the radio.

"She had a gun and she shot me. And it's—" Leon hissed.

"Leon, not Squall, I know." Yuffie corrected herself in exasperation.

"Where did she get a gun?" Cid offered his input.

"Hell if know, but she's a pretty good shot." Leon replied.

Tifa gave a half-chuckle, half-shudder at that.

Boots were clomping down the hallway now and within a few seconds, Cloud was skidding into the doorframe, sword at his back and eerily blue eyes immediately latching onto Tifa. She started slightly at his sudden entrance and Leon dropped his hand, sweeping the gun from her weakened grip…just in case.

"Tifa!" Cloud ducked into the cell.

In his wake, Aerith appeared, green eyes wide with worry.

Tifa lifted her head from Leon's shoulder and blinked. "Cloud?"

Her face was coated crimson from the blood staining through Leon's shirt, and Aerith gaped.

"What happened?" She rushed past Cloud and knelt on Tifa's other side, inspecting her face.

"It's not her blood." Leon explained hastily.

Aerith shifted out of the way and Cloud bent over, sliding one arm under Tifa's knees and another around her back, just under Leon's arm. Leon retracted his hold on the woman and Tifa lifted a hand, pawing at his chest meekly.

"Watch her ankle. She was shackled to the wall." Leon warned Cloud, taking Tifa's wrist and squeezing it reassuringly before letting go.

Cloud nodded and stood slowly with Tifa in his arms. She moaned at the vertigo and set her face against his neck. He murmured something under his breath to her and she nodded, clinging closer to him. Leon clenched his jaw and pushed his way up the wall to his feet, his other arm hooking closer to his body to avoid jostling.

"Yuffie and Merlin?" He asked Aerith.

"With Cid, getting the truck." She explained, turning her eyes to his shoulder. "She did that?"

"Not her fault. She thought I was…I don't know…but I startled her and…shit happens." Leon said, subtly side stepping Aerith's natural motherly ministrations and looking over to where Cloud was carrying Tifa out of the cell. She looked more relaxed now, at ease now that she was safe again.

Frowning for the sake of it, he picked up his gunblade with his good hand and followed Aerith out of the cell, casting the room a dark look before walking after the group down the hallway. His shoulder was starting to really ache now that the adrenaline of finding Tifa alive had passed. Aerith glanced back at him in concern, but he gave her a flat look and kept walking after them.

Merlin, Yuffie, and Cid were waiting outside with the old quad cab pick-up that the Restoration Committee used to run longer distance errands around Radiant Garden. Merlin restrained Yuffie from assaulting Cloud as he carried Tifa, who looked unconscious now by the limp dangling of her limbs. Cid opened the door to the back seat and held it while Cloud carefully moved Tifa across the cushions. Aerith hopped around to the other side and shimmied into the other back seat to keep an eye on her while they drove.

"Is she gonna be all right?" Cid asked, closing the door.

"She actually shot you?" Yuffie blanched at the blood by now staining a quarter of Leon's shirt.

Leon gave her a flat look.

"The faster we get her back to town, the better." Aerith said.

Cid nodded and climbed into the driver's seat, looking at Leon. "You gonna make it?"

Leon waved him off and climbed into the bed of the truck. Yuffie and Cloud followed suite while Merlin took the front passenger seat. Cid gunned the engine and turned the truck around, driving as smoothly as possible while aiming the vehicle toward town.

Yuffie pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and folded it. Leon didn't fight her as she placed the cloth over the hole in his shoulder, putting pressure on the wound to staunch the bleeding. The pain was dizzying, but he'd experienced worse, so he just swallowed hard and kept his eyes closed until the truck slowed down, pulling into the alley behind Merlin's house.

Cloud and Aerith got Tifa inside first and foremost. By then, Leon was forced to begrudgingly accept help from Yuffie to get out of the back of the truck and stagger into the house. Maybe he'd lost more blood than he'd thought. Merlin and Cid followed after them. Yuffie scampered back outside and carried his gunblade in for him.

Leon sank into a chair at the table while Aerith fretted over Tifa on the bed against the wall. Cloud stood idly by, looking uncomfortable and unsure how to help and worried on top of that. Yuffie hovered like…like something that hovers…until Merlin shooed her away. Cid sat down in a chair beside Leon, sliding a bottle of potion toward him.

"Drink up, me hearty, yo ho." Cid said wryly, puffing on a fresh cigarette.

Leon snorted and twisted the green bottle open, draining the contents in two pulls and swallowing the liquid healing. The potion warmed him from the inside out and the pain dulled in his shoulder as the wound stitched itself back together. Shaking his head to clear it, he set the bottle back on the table.

"Thanks." He grunted.

Aerith cast a Curaga spell and the soft green glow of it made Leon blink a few times. Tifa's shaking fell still and Aerith leaned over her to check her vitals while Merlin coaxed Cloud away from her bed. The man looked like the last thing he wanted was to let Tifa out of his sight. Leon didn't blame him for that. Hell, HE didn't want to let Tifa out of his sight.

After a few minutes, Aerith straightened and walked back over to them. "I healed all of her wounds and curbed the hypothermia, but she's still in shock. She's sleeping now."

"So she's going to make a full recovery?" Leon asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Yes." Aerith nodded meaningfully, looking from Cloud to Leon. "How's your shoulder?"

"Fine." Leon indicated the potion.

"I fixed him up, good as new." Cid clapped a hand against Leon's back.

"Did you get the bullet out?" Aerith asked.

Leon and Cid both grimaced. "No."

Aerith inspected his shoulder herself. "Well, it healed all right so it probably won't hurt to just leave it the way it is." She pointed sharply at Leon. "But if it starts hurting, you tell me so I can get it out before you arm falls off."

"Right." Leon nodded his head, with really no intention of doing so. Aerith was all sweet and smiles on a normal basis, but when it came to health matters, she was a downright Nazi.

Tifa slept soundly for several hours without making a noise. After a while, normal Restoration Committee duties needed to be tended to. Leon pawned his patrol off on Merlin who…genius as he was at magic…was gullible to requests. Cid sent Yuffie on some errands to get the chattering ninja out of their hair and Aerith summarily distracted Cid by taking him out to the hangar to ask about something involving Gummis.

That left Leon and Cloud, neither of which had any intention of leaving until Tifa woke up and was coherent. They didn't have to sit in uncomfortable silence long before Tifa began to stir. Cloud immediately moved to her side as she opened her eyes. Leon didn't hasten over so quickly. Cloud was her childhood friend and Leon was just somebody she worked with who might count as a friend. Childhood friend trumped…whatever Leon was to her.

"It's okay. You're at Merlin's. You're safe." Cloud was saying.

Tifa blinked a few times, slowly, to clear her head. "Cloud? H-how—"

"Aerith healed you. We found you in the dungeons and brought you back right away." Cloud explained for her.

Tifa was speaking again, but it sounded like a personal conversation. Having no desire to eavesdrop on a private subject, Leon stood from his seat in front of Merlin's computer and silently left the house, closing the door behind him and walking away from the place.

Why had he really stuck around anyway? Maybe to hear Tifa herself say that she was okay. He frowned. He'd really had no intention of hovering by, waiting for her to wake up so he could talk to her or anything. He'd only known the woman for a few months. She was barely part of the Restoration Committee. He had no reason to put so much…what would it be, emotional stock?...in her.

As a human being, of course he was concerned, and he couldn't ignore the striking resemblance between Tifa and Rinoa. Leon stopped walking and rubbed his face with one hand, exhaling heavily. That was ridiculous. Tifa didn't look like Rinoa at all. He was really losing his mind now. Among other things, apparently.

Reeling his mind back in, Leon straightened and headed for the alley behind Merlin's. Bringing the truck to life, he pointed the vehicle toward the castle ruins. So maybe he wasn't going to be the one to make it all better for Tifa…not that he wanted to be in that position anyway…and he snickered at the idea of Cloud handling it…But he'd be damned if he let those Nobodies live another hour after putting her through two days of Hell.


End file.
